In 2022, thanks to a small grant, we were looking at ways to reach people who hadn’t heard of us before.

Having worked in various suburbs in Nottingham we were aware that there are people across the city who need support, so we decided to try hosting a drop-in morning in Nottingham city centre.

Following the success of the first session held in November 2022 when ten people came, the drop-in is now running once a month.

Location, location, location

Nottingham has a great public transport system, with reliable buses and trams that connect in the city centre. But where could we host a drop-in, that would offer a safe, accessible space, drinks and cake with an element of privacy, all at a price we could afford?

I knew of a community enterprise in the city centre so I approached them to see what space they could offer. Tiger Community Hub has a café space, a shop selling upcycled products alongside practical homemade items and runs a variety of craft and self-help sessions.

Tiger is well placed for public transport links and a nearby street offers Blue Badge parking. Their activity space has a kitchen table style layout that was exactly what I was looking for. Toni, the brains behind Tiger, offered us a great deal and I booked in to host the first drop-in there in November 2022.

Spreading the word

With the venue and date set, the next challenge was to spread the word. Previous experience of promoting dementia related activities has proven that it’s necessary to do a little bit of everything so that’s what I did.

Traditional posters and fliers delivered to community venues including leisure centres, GPs, libraries and places of worship, both in the city centre and in various suburbs, worked alongside social media posts on Facebook and Twitter.

I’ve been on local radio and even had a stall at a dementia-friendly panto performance at Nottingham Playhouse. Oh yes, I have!

Tiger have been great at spreading the word too. They promote all their events on Facebook and Twitter and have added ours to their calendars. They also have a poster in their window. But most helpfully, they talk to people who come into the hub and, where appropriate, encourage them to come to the drop-in.

Whilst the need for promotion has slowed now the drop-in is established, I still look for opportunities that will help me to reach new audiences. This has included connecting with GP alliances and social prescribing networks on Twitter and presenting to the Health and Wellbeing Hub team who run information and advice stalls in community settings across Nottinghamshire.

The work pays off

From the first drop-in in November 2022 to the most recent one in March 2023, I’ve been heartened by the response I’ve had. 15 people attended the most recent drop-in. Although different people come each month, a core group seems to be emerging. It’s encouraging that people come back month after month as they must be finding the sessions enjoyable and helpful.

We have a mix of people coming including people living with dementia, sometimes with their partners, as well as family members and friends. Sometimes people we’ve known for some time and who’ve engaged with other activities we’ve run come, but mostly the drop-in is attracting people who’ve never heard of Trent Dementia before.

With no set activities, the drop-in provides a space for people to chat over drinks and food. I greet people, find out a little about their circumstances and encourage them to leave contact details if they’d like to. I also link people up to talk about similar experiences such as taking on the household finances once a partner becomes unable to manage them anymore and offer information on other groups and services in the area.

Trent Dementia’s approach is to respond to the needs expressed by people affected by dementia. To do this, we must listen to their experiences. What the drop-in has proved (as we already knew from other services we offer) is that space to meet with other people and talk is the most valuable thing we can offer. People express feelings of isolation, loneliness and the challenge of adjusting to how life looks now. They appreciate the sense of community that attending groups like the drop-in gives.

“Coming here today and talking with other people has made me realise that my partner’s condition is quite progressed and being in the care home is the right thing for them” Partner of a person living with dementia who has recently moved into a care home.

“I’m still trying to work out what my life looks like now” Partner of a person who was living with dementia who died a few years ago.

It’s fair to say that the food – soup, bread and cake – is well received too.

The benefits of working with Tiger

Working with Tiger has been great for the drop-in, for several reasons:

• Promoting the drop-in – Tiger promote the drop-ins, in person to customers and on social media. One person has come after seeing the poster in the window and another comes following chatting with Toni in the café,
• Offering a warm (literally and figuratively) and friendly welcome – the Tiger team are the first point of contact as people arrive, signposting people to the activity space,
• Providing two to three extra pairs of hands – as the only paid person at the drop-in, things can get hectic for me, so having the Tiger team on hand to deliver drinks and food really helps,
• Food and drinks all sorted – it’s great that we can offer a free meal to people at the drop-in and Tiger provide excellent, great value food,
• Space to overflow – given the numbers attending, the drop-in can get quite noisy so it’s great that there’s the café space to overflow into which can provide a quieter place to chat in smaller groups,
• Opportunities to collaborate – in January drop-in attendees decorated glass jars to be part of Tiger’s Light Night installation and I’ve joined in networking events held in the venue.

Summary

From the number of people attending the drop-in and the number returning each month, several things are clear.

One, meeting in a city centre venue works. People are happy and able to travel into a central location thanks to the good transport links Nottingham has.

Two, there’s a need for people affected by dementia to meet, to share experiences and concerns and to be heard by others.

Three, sessions like the drop-in give organisations like Trent Dementia the opportunity to gather shared experiences of the everyday impact of living with a dementia diagnosis. These can be used to inform and educate interested audiences such as those newly diagnosed, healthcare professionals and service providers.

Four, working with a local community hub has huge benefits outside of hiring the space.

A significant aspect of the work of the charity is in Increasing the general public’s understanding of the experience of what it is like to live with dementia; whether this is from the perspective of the person with the diagnosis, their family carer or health and social care professionals.  Achieving a high level of understanding is often crucial to the provision of high-quality dementia care. In the UK, over 200,000 new cases of dementia are reported each year, however, the nature of dementia often makes it difficult for many to understand what it may be like to actually live with dementia.

A real positive in working for a dementia charity is that we are asked to offer our opinions and commentary on a range of literary products on dementia.  Now I love a good story and reading novels is one of my greatest pleasures so when the charity is asked to comment on a play script or a novel that explores some aspect of living with dementia I jump at the chance.  I have read some good (and bad) scripts and novels, met some amazing authors, illustrators and actors in doing so.

One of the more recent requests was in seeking our recommendations for fiction that explores the dementia experience for National Book Day. Internationally the novel is celebrated in many ways through prizes and awards for authors to days, such as National Book Day, to encourage those of all ages to read more. Another example was World Book Day which was held in March of this year with its theme being to encourage us to ‘share a million stories’ across the UK. I am not sure of how successful the day was, but this set me thinking, how many novels are sold each year? I found a website of a book sales monitor who claim to provide statistics for the print book market in the UK. In total, they claim that over 190 million books were sold in the UK in 2018.  It is less clear as to how many of these were fiction and even less clear on the numbers that relate to dementia in any way – very few is probably the answer to that.

There is a growing recognition that the arts can complement healthcare, and that creative arts initiatives can help people connect with their fellow human beings as an effective way of supporting mental health and wellbeing. Novels can challenge our perspectives on the human experience of dementia in ways unmatched by other media. In a world dominated by technology, reading a novel encourages us to silence the noise and enter another world. Reading fiction (or non-fiction), can be a great way to increase our understanding and empathy of the human condition in its many forms. Novels can be used to evidence the experience of dementia and discusses several well-known novels to illustrate the power of storytelling, such as, ‘Still Alice’ and ‘Elizabeth is missing’.

In general, novels that afford some focus on the lived experience of dementia often do so as witnessed by the relatives and friends of the person with the diagnosis, whether that be from observing and suspecting something is ‘not quite right’ to an exploration of how relationships can alter as a result of dementia. Very few are narrated in the first person.  What is of greater interest to me is that, despite extensive searches I have found no novels that explore the experience of dementia that also involves another species, for example, in the form of a family pet.  However, if we look to the literature on psychosocial interventions Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a recognised intervention in dementia care based on the interaction between patients and animals. AAT and Dog Assisted Therapy in particular, has been proposed to help adults with dementia in the management of their distress behaviours. Perhaps not surprisingly researchers in this field have found that people with dementia, exposed to an AAT intervention, experienced significantly longer and more frequent periods of pleasure and positive social interaction. Is this really surprising? Many people, before they develop dementia, have long and satisfying relationships with animals.  It is often the advent of dementia that affects their continued enjoyment of these relationships.  For example, if it is deemed the person with dementia requires institutional care their beloved pet may not be allowed to make that transition with them.  This is often seen as a transitory sadness (or sometimes an inconvenience in respect of finding a home for the animal) on the part of health and social care providers but for the person with dementia this may be akin to losing a child, a loved one. 

So where am I going with this? I recently read a book that was translated into English from an Italian author.  Whilst short term memory was a factor in the presentation of the protagonist, this was not a picture of dementia but of mental ill health and solitude.  However, the strand that ran through the novel was the relationship the main character built with a stray dog and the dialogue (yes, a two-way dialogue!) that passed between them (Morandini 2015).  If the care and research world the loving relationship with an animal is reduced to ‘an intervention’, then perhaps this is a topic that could be better explored in the world of literature?  If literature is a means of enhancing the readers understanding and empathy of the experiences of others, then could this work by telling the story of a person with dementia and their pet?

Dr Karen Harrison Dening

Head of Research & Publications, Dementia UK

Morandini, C. (2015) (Translated by Ockenden, J. 2019) Snow, Dog, Foot. London: Peirene.

Friends for Life (Nottm) "Ay'e up mi duck", have left the group in good hands while temporarily away on Hols in Cyprus. Cynth and myself have previously tried to raise funds for a "Magic Table" an Interactive table for small group of PLWD (people living with dementia) to play games, tackle puzzles and view history and geography, etc. They cost any where around £2K/£5000 we had a donation last year from friends in Cyprus who follow what the group accomplish. Having attended the donors' wedding yesterday, I was asked to make a little speech about the activities of our Dementia group, to be praised and supported once more with financial support, giving us a chance of approaching our target and dreams of a Technical support for the group. On our return to UK we will be arranging a demonstration, to see what are the best Apps for our group. Exciting times, and hopefully we can fulfil our targets, thanks so far to our friends of our group, who just happen to live in Cyprus.

In addition 2 of them do a rendition of a "Pam Ayer's" comedy sketch "I can't do it"!, and have agreed to re-create it on either video or a live zoom link for the group. Hopefully we will be able to share it at some point, although that is not one of our talents, as sadly we sent 4 virtual walks, which somehow didn't arrive and presumably are still walking somewhere?

Steve & Cynthia c/o Friends for Life DEEP (Nottm) "Ay'e up mi duck".

It all started in October 2019 at the Big Conversations event in Nottingham Racecourse. It was an event led by people living with dementia planning for it over eight months. It was a second event in its series. Around 100 people attended, mostly people living with dementia and their families. There the project manager, Dr Jane Rowley, announced the start of the #1000MilesWalk initiative. Virgin Pulse donated 100 step counters to Trent Dementia to help people living with dementia and their supporters and families to become more active. Suzanne, our project worker, helped us get this donation and it has proved a really popular initiative

I started to talk with local organisations like Best Foot Forward project in Age UK Nottingham, Notts Guided Walks, and Ramblers to see how we could join hands and cooperate together to help people living with dementia and their families and supporters form walking groups in Nottingham. I also undertook training with Ramblers’ to learn more about leading walks. I started to feel more confident after the training to lead walks with people living with dementia and their families and supporters. Our approach is to support people to run their own groups and my role is to help organise and lead walks until the group has sufficient members to run itself. Covid-19 has delayed this process but, we are working online to promote physical activity: https://www.trentdementia.org.uk/projects/walking-groups/.

A meta-analysis and systematic review conducted by Du et al (2018)i showed that physical activity might improve the cognitive function of Alzheimer’s disease or slow down the decline of cognition. Another systematic review and meta-analysis (Li et al, 2019)ii showed that exercise programmes might help with cognition and activities of daily living in people living with dementia. Walking five miles per week might protect the brain structure over 10 years in people with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, especially in areas of the brain’s key memory and learning centres,” says Dr Cyrus Raji (MDedge Neurology, 2011)iii.

Trent Dementia charity decided to keep in contact with people online to stay healthy and start or continue their physical activities, be it gardening, walking in place, on treadmill, walking around the house, in the park, around neighbourhood, etc. Virgin Pulse step counters were a great help. We also received a small grant from The Thomas Farr to purchase trackers and maps for people living with dementia and their families.

We started promoting our project on social media. Wewe decided to initiate a small walking group open to people living with dementia and their families and supporters to come and have an half an hour walk around the Lake in Wollaton Park, Nottingham. We send out Virgin Pulse step counters to people living with dementia and their families and asked them if they would like to send us the number of steps that they take each time they go for a walk. We register their steps for them online and then send it to the Country Walking magazine and will send for #1000Miles Walk medal when they reach 1000 miles. Just by walking around half an hour each day (roughly 2.5 miles a day), one can finish 1000 miles in a year.

We had this group run for a few weeks before we decided to shut it down because of coronavirus and social distancing. At the time of the lock down, we decided to support our group members by having a Wednesday online Zoom meeting and start making videos of the pictures they take when they go out for a walk. We also run several other groups online and in each of them we promot physical activity and encourage gardening, walking, taking pictures of outdoors, and exercises. We also sent seeds and bedding plants through Bring Joy Foundation small grant and they are happily attending to their plants now. We also devised a survey to ask people how else we could support them to start or continue a physical activity of their choice. We sent the survey to DEEP network, GP surgeries, Alzheimer’s Society, Carers in Hucknall and other organisations to reach as wide an audience as possible. Some of the people who answered our survey expressed an interest to have group physical activity sessions with a trainer. So, we applied for funding and last week we received a small grant from Robin Hood Fund to arrange these online sessions for people living with dementia and their families and supporters. We use online films of walks around the world and I developed a training in making videos for people to use their own photos or film their daily exercise using their phones.

We will not allow the lockdown to stop us from supporting people living with dementia in their walking endeavours and in doing physical activities. Last Tuesday, we had a hand jive followed by a hand massage session with people living with dementia and their families in our Tuesday’s Coffee & Chat meeting. They laughed and took part in the activity with good spirits.

I think one of the mottos of Trent Dementia charity is: ‘We NEVER give up!’

References

i Du, Z., Li, Y., Li, J., Zhou, C., Li, F., & Yang, X. (2018). Physical activity can improve cognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Clinical interventions in aging, 13, 1593–1603. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S169565

ii Li, X., Guo, R., Wei, Z., Jia, J., & Wei, C. (2019). Effectiveness of Exercise Programs on Patients with Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. BioMed research international, 2019, 2308475. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2308475

iii MDedge Neurology. (2011). Walking slows progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology reviews, 19(1): 23. https://www.mdedge.com/neurology/article/72791/alzheimers-cognition/walking-slows-progression-alzheimers-disease#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20found%20that%20walking%20five,over%20five%20years.%E2%80%9D%20Dr.

I often reflect on the positive impact of being outdoors and connecting with nature has on me, particularly as this year I have moved home to live in a rural community with many opportunities to experience a range of outdoor activities. During walk with my dog last winter, after a very busy day, I stopped for a while to feel the late winter sun on my face and delighted in the accompanying gentle breeze. This moment wasn’t about the activity of dog walking but more about how the whole experience made me feel. I reflected on how incomplete my life would be if I was unable to have the freedom or ability to experience being outdoors. These thoughts moved me so over the past few months of this year I have been working with Dementia Adventure, Rutland County Council and Rutland Wildlife Trust Centre to develop a project that aim to enable people living with dementia and their family carers to share time in nature.

We have been committed to ensuring that this project takes the time to ensure that carers and the person living with dementia are involved in its development. The name of the project - Time in Nature - was the title chosen by the group. Whilst we had an idea of what might or might not work during the session, we didn’t want to assume that it is what group participants would want. So to prepare we spent a morning sharing and discussing ideas, some of which we managed to build into the session itinerary. Interests expressed were many and varied; including dry stone walling, building badger boxes and bird nests and generally helping to maintain the woodland. I felt personally enthused at some of their ideas and that I may learn some new skills myself.

After this productive co-production planning day we launched the first Time in Nature activity group on the 9th of October at Rutland Wildlife Trust Volunteer Centre. We anticipated a slow uptake and low numbers initially, perhaps four or five couples? To our great pleasure and surprise we welcomed 17 participants each dressed to experience the great outdoors. My colleague Kath Pyke of Dementia Adventure and myself introduced ourselves and the purpose of the group. Following a welcome of coffee and biscuits we presented a table displaying a variety of interesting objects, such as, an owls skull, conkers, leaves and a variety of foliage, all with different textures and smells. Participants were encouraged to handle the objects and conversation was facilitated. Even those who had difficulty communicating verbally visibly enjoyed the experience.

Part of my role as an Admiral Nurse is supporting and maintaining relationships. Spousal couples often experience difficulty communicating with each other when words are lost. As the relationship changes and care needs emerge for one of the couple so there are changes where one role develops into that of care giver. The risk is that the interaction then changes into one which is merely task driven. One couple I was supporting attended the group; they were experiencing difficulties in communicating with each other which left the spouse of the person with dementia feeling isolated and lonely. During the Time in Nature session I worked with this couple and supported them to share the experience of feeling and smelling the items on the table. The person with dementia started to use words her spouse had not heard for a long time; “beautiful” “lovely” “look at that“ - the words weren’t lost she just needed a little help to find them.

After the table top session we split into smaller groups and, supported by a crew of enthusiastic volunteers from the Wildlife Trust, donned binoculars in the observatory to look over Rutland waters wildlife. Some headed out to ramble along the hedgerows with lots of chatter, laughter and knowledge shared. Before we broke for lunch participants had the opportunity to make a posy from the items on the table to take home with them as a reminder of the day and continue conversations.

Here are a few quotes from the day:

“I don’t usually get chance to walk in fields anymore only trips to town; reminds me of when I was young walking on the Yorkshire Moors “

“I’ve really enjoyed the comradery”

“Really enjoyed using the telescope “

“Nice to be outside”

I love food, as I’m sure a lot of people do. Whether it be the smell of your favourite meal or the memory of cooking with a loved one, the majority of us would call food an experience rather than something we’re told we have to do 3 times a day. 3 years ago I committed to a vegetarian diet in order to regain a bit of control over my health. I didn’t realise it would completely reshape my relationship with food. I was even more surprised that I began to enjoy it. It’s only recently that I began to investigate some of the health benefits of certain diets. Here I’ll break down what scientists have found about diet and its impact on a person with dementia.

Over 25 years ago, scientists discovered that people on vegetarian diets experience the symptoms of dementia later in life. Meat eaters may be twice as likely than vegans to be diagnosed with dementia (Giem et al 1993). Research has been found that meat-free diets can help reduce blood pressure and the levels of fat travelling around the body. Also, vegan/vegetarian diets could be considered beneficial as they are free from the high salt content found in processed meats (de la Monte 2014). However, it is important to note that salts are present in all preserved foods – so whether you are eating preserved vegetables or preserved meats you are consuming a high level of salt. A key take-home message is that the quality of food is very important to your health.

It is also known that meat-free diets make a person more likely to suffer from a lack of vitamin B (Osimani et al 2005). A lack of vitamin B can lead to cognitive problems that can contribute to dementia if left untreated. Interestingly, a pescatarian diet (a diet free of meat but based on fish, fruits and vegetables) can reduce the severity of cognitive problems in someone who has already been diagnosed with dementia (Willams and O’Connell 2002).

If the ‘perfect diet’ does exist, we haven’t found it yet. What we do know is that even though you may not be what you eat, what you eat can have a large impact on your health. That being said, before deciding to take the drastic change in diet to veganism, it is important to remember that moderation is very important in order for lifestyle changes to be healthy and influence a long-lasting and positive change. Making your diet is balanced and appropriate for your lifestyle is more important than following any trends. Be sure to consult medical professionals before committing to drastic dietary changes.

For further reading on the subject, please visit: https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/blog/vegetarian-and-vegan-diets-for-brain-health

References

Giem P, Beeson W, L, Fraser G, E: The Incidence of Dementia and Intake of Animal Products: Preliminary Findings from the Adventist Health Study. Neuroepidemiology 1993;12:28-36. doi: 10.1159/000110296

Risk factors for dementia factsheet 2016, Factsheet 450LP Alzheimer’s Research UK Accessed 28.12.18 https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/factsheet_risk_factors_for_dementia.pdf

Osimani A, Berger A, Friedman J, et al (2005) Neuropsychology of vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly dementia patients and control subjects. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 18:33–38. doi: 10.1177/0891988704272308

Williams JH, O’Connell TC (2002) Differential relations between cognition and 15N isotopic content of hair in elderly people with dementia and controls. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 57:M797-802

de la Monte SM (2014) Type 3 diabetes is sporadic Alzheimers disease: mini-review. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 24:1954–1960. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2014.06.008

As the arts within dementia become increasingly explored, so do more unique forms of creative activity. Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with ‘well-known’ activities such as group singing, arts and crafts, and reading groups etc. Therefore it can be refreshingly inspiring to be offered the opportunity to take part in something new, reminding us that interventions can come in all sorts of inventive ways.

Last week Created Out of Mind, based at The Wellcome Hub in London, welcomed a rather playful visit from Tovertafel. Translating from Dutch to ‘Magic table’, Tovertafel uses infrared technology to allow individuals to interact with light projection. What this does is create games for people with moderate to severe dementia by shining the projector onto a table or surface. 

Tovertafel was developed by PhD student Hester Le Riche at the Delft University of Technology and VU University of Amsterdam. The aim of this technology is to promote relaxation, reminiscence, sensation, and prolonged periods of engagement. It is currently being used in residential care homes as opposed to family homes, and it hopes to reduce the passivity that some care home residents may experience. By having a variety of different games available, appropriate levels of stimulus can be offered to residents, therefore encouraging engagement from everybody.

I decided to reflect upon my own experience of engagement with the game, and found that this equipment was capable of evoking many different feelings. There was something beautifully therapeutic in being able to run my hand through simulated water, watch fishes dance up my arm; and with the addition of gentle sound it offered a fully immersive experience. Then there was the socialness of swiping a beach ball to one another, and the fun curiosity of rummaging through leaves. Even something as straightforward as resting my hand on the table waiting for a butterfly to land on it offered a peaceful tranquillity.

Tovertafel wonderfully captures what it means to engage with your surroundings, in this case virtual objects and scenarios.  There is the risk of games like these sounding childish to some, but one key element to developing engaging activities in dementia is being open-minded. Innovative intervention designs such as this one demonstrate the potential for technology within dementia care, showing how something as simple as a light and a surface can create hours of meaningful activity.

Created Out of Mind will continue to explore different styles of intervention throughout this two year project on the arts and dementia, and hopes to find ways of capturing ‘in the moment’ experiences during these forms of engagement.

You can watch Tovertafel in use at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm8Vh-XXxzE or visit their website for more information at http://activecues.com/en/

Access to the outdoors is known to have a positive impact on wellbeing, due to such benefits as exercise and activity as well as the promotion of social inclusion and interaction, however, for people with dementia, this access is often denied. The reasons for this are wide ranging including disorientation and a lack of appropriate support to compensate for this, inadequate public transport provision and the negative and stigmatising attitudes of the wider community. 

A similar exclusion from outdoor spaces is experienced by people with dementia living in care homes. For in spite of the widespread availability of gardens and other outdoor spaces within these settings, my experiences as nurse suggest that these outdoor spaces are rarely used by residents. While inadequacies in dementia care are often attributed to corresponding inadequacies in the front line workforce, wider factors are also at play in this exclusion. These include the inappropriate design of outdoor spaces and the lack of availability of staff to facilitate access to these spaces.

Also important are care home cultures which place an overriding focus on minimising levels of risk amongst the resident group. Thus having a resident ‘wandering off’ on their own outside or falling over and hurting themselves are seen as incidents to be avoided at all costs, with care home staff having to account for and justify their actions should such incidents happen on their shift. Consequently, in their negotiation of the fine line between care on one hand and control on the other, due to the wish of care home staff to avoid such events, the emphasis is normally placed on the latter. This can lead to overcautious and task centred approach to care and a subsequent ‘institutionalisation’ of more vulnerable residents with a focus on ensuring their physical safety rather than on their individual social and psychological needs and aspirations. This is exacerbated by the fact that people with dementia are not always able to fully express these needs as well as by high levels of staff turnover and the increasing scale of care homes meaning that staff often do not gain familiarity with each resident and be ‘person centred’ in their practice.  In view of these multiple barriers to outdoor access, measures aimed at overcoming them should adopt a similarly eclectic approach. These measures could include the incorporation within each persons care plan a consideration of their need for outdoor access and how this will be achieved and which potentially permits an acceptable level of risk in this achievement.  ‘Dementia friendly’ spaces and support to access them also need to be available both for people living in care homes as well as in the wider community.  While on a wider level, government policy and legislation should  recognise that access to the outdoors for people with dementia is a basic human right and key to the promotion of their social inclusion.

Follow this link to find out more: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13607863.2016.1222351

Gosh! This month’s exciting news is that Growing Support’s work enabling people with dementia to stay socially and physically active has received national recognition. We have been selected as one of the Observer’s 50 New Radicals for 2016.

Run in partnership with Nesta, an innovation charity working to help bring new ideas to life, the 50 New Radicals is a list of innovative people doing radical and useful things to make Britain a better place.

I’m thrilled that a national newspaper has even noticed we exist, never mind judging our work to have the potential to change the UK for the better! I’m also very proud that Growing Support has been placed alongside previous New Radicals such as Care Charts, Dementia Adventure and Sporting Memories who are all doing great work to improve the quality of care for people living with dementia.

However, part of me feels a little downhearted that society is still at the stage when something as simple as enabling people with dementia to take part in sociable gardening activities and stay connected with their community is considered radical.

To me, spending time outdoors, being with friends and sharing the enjoyment of working alongside one another is such a natural part of life its sometimes hard to understand why it isn’t already considered an essential component of care.

One day I hope it will be and Growing Support won’t be needed anymore. Until that day I’m grateful for opportunities like this to raise awareness, not only of the challenges faced by people with dementia in their everyday life, but also how the community can work together to help overcome them.

For now, it’s time to head off to the awards reception. I’m going to enjoy the moment and put off worrying about how to change the world until tomorrow!

See the full list of 50 New Radicals here: https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/series/new-radicals-2016

In generating public understanding about dementia, the arts and social sciences have as much to offer as neuroscience.  This is the starting-point of a group which has been invited to take up the 2016-2018 residency in The Hub at Wellcome Collection, a flagship space and resource for interdisciplinary projects exploring health and wellbeing. Bringing together a rich network including scientists, artists, clinicians, public health experts and broadcasters, the group will examine and challenge perceptions of dementia through both scientific and creative experimentation. They have been awarded £1 million to develop the project over two years. More than 60 individuals, charities and institutions in field of dementia and the arts will be involved in the hub, led by Sebastian Crutch (Project Director; UCL Dementia Research Centre).  The goal of this hub – yet to be formally named - is ‘to shape, enrich and inform the public and professional perception and understanding of dementia through science and the creative arts’. Its ambition is to ‘change the way scientists and artists interact’.  Of course that is a false dichotomy: we are all artists insofar as we have creativity programmed into us; and in a sense we are all scientists discovering and navigating the world around us by experimentation. Yet we are categorised from an early age, told what we can and cannot do well, encouraged in certain trajectories by well-meaning parents and teachers. As a grown-up academic researcher I fall into the ‘scientist’ category.  Yet what I do is entirely creative: I generate knowledge out of data, design complex studies to answer difficult questions, nurture talent and compose prose which is intended to convey ideas in a meaningful way.  I’d argue that the concentration which this work – science – demands and the satisfaction to be derived from it are just as profound as those experienced by a skilled artist. So where is the divide between an artist and scientist?  Communication and the pursuit of understanding seem to be a common purpose.  Leaving aside stereotypes (mad professor and free spirit) it seems to me to be something to do with how each relates to their respective community. Perhaps scientists observe shared norms, whereas artists – or so I assume – resist being governed?   I will leave you to reflect on this conundrum – please share your thoughts with other readers of this blog.